Alex Niehenke
Alex is a Partner at Scale focused on early investments in vertical markets where incumbents have failed to invest in advanced technology offerings. This thesis has led to investments in Motive (formerly KeepTruckin), Root Insurance (ROOT), Scout RFP (acq. Workday), Range. Sixfold, Proscia, and Archipelago, among others.
Alex has been in venture for over twenty years and at Scale Venture Partners since 2012. He started investing around the rise of the internet, social media, and mobile; then followed that into the growth of cloud and SaaS. His interest in verticals was forged early observing his dad’s transportation businesses intersect across most other markets. His first investments in venture were in fintech and trucking a decade back, and he has remained committed to vertical investing through the waves of SaaS and AI.
Alex has contributed his perspective on verticals to TechCrunch, Business Insider, and Forbes, among other publications, and regularly shares insights on LinkedIn. He remains a student of the market, running the series “History Lessons” that articulates what he is learning from legacy vertical giants.
Alex was born in Germany and moved frequently as a child, living in New York, Southern California, and Austria (seven different schools before college). He has a BS in Business Administration and a BA in Legal Studies from UC Berkeley. Outside of the office, Alex can be found swimming in any pool or body of water available, coaching his sons’ sports teams (and advocating for raising kids in the city), or wrestling with an old basket press as a hobby winemaker in Sonoma.